


Not The End of The World

by bloodsugar



Series: Love in Hope County? As if! [9]
Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Enemies to Lovers, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22364044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodsugar/pseuds/bloodsugar
Summary: Rook antagonizes over being in love with Joseph for weeks. Consciously, at least. At one point he has to admit to himself that he has been fighting it for longer.
Relationships: Deputy | Judge/Joseph Seed, Male Deputy | Judge/Joseph Seed
Series: Love in Hope County? As if! [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591975
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Not The End of The World

Rook antagonizes over being in love with Joseph for weeks. Consciously, at least. At one point he has to admit to himself that he has been fighting it for longer. Maybe for as long as he’s been in this forsaken county… Didn’t some pop singer have a song about this? About finding love in a hopeless town? In an awful place? 

At first it’s _I can not be in love with Joseph Seed_. Rook’s friends, the majority of them anyway, agree with this sentiment whole-heartedly. And Rook can’t blame them. For months the Seed siblings have been taking turns kidnapping Rook and essentially torturing him with drugs and mind control and, well, whatever it is that John does - trying to bring Rook down with monologuing at him via radio, threatening him, being annoying mostly. Even Joseph can’t fully control his little brother’s irritating personality. 

Rook is stuck in that first phase the longest. In love with Joseph Seed? No, thank you. Just no. He uses Joseph’s last name as a blanket and a motivator to keep panicking over his feelings for a while. 

Then it evolves. The surname is dropped and Rook is down to an endless mantra of _I’m not in love with Joseph_. He tells it to himself before he goes to sleep and when he wakes up. However with Rook not being into denial, the mantra rings more and more untrue with each day. About a week of it and Rook has to admit that approach is not working. 

It also doesn’t help that when Joseph refers to Rook as his ‘love’ in that soft warm voice of his, Rook doesn’t even try to stop or correct him. Not even once. 

Rook is weak. He tries not to think about it, not to feel, and of course that doesn’t work. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place, his position having been so clear cut and obvious before now muddled with everything his relationship with Joseph brings. 

Fuck, he is _in a relationship_ with Joseph. Does that make him Joseph’s boyfriend? His partner? That thought makes Rook fight the peggies harder for weeks until he is exhausted and covered in bruises. 

Still when Joseph calls, Rook answers. They meet and make out, they talk on the phone, like boyfriends would. Rook really hates that term. Boyfriends. He is twenty-nine years old, he doesn’t want to be a boyfriend. 

He doesn’t want to be ‘Joseph’s bitch’, as Sharky jokingly refers to Rook from time to time, either. Given how Sharky found out about them, Rook can’t even blame him for using that term. Joseph had driven away in Rook’s truck for fuck’s sake, as though he had Rook by the balls. 

Figuratively. Rook is the dominant one. He may be in love but he’s dominant. He fucks Joseph’s brains out at least a few times a month. Rook is bigger, stronger than Joseph. Rook is in charge. 

Except, as Rook thinks back on their last meeting - Joseph pushing him down on the bed, slowly climbing on top of him, that blue gaze fiery but calm - Rook doesn’t feel in charge.

Rook loves it that Joseph is powerful, in spirit, convictions, actions. Joseph has the entire county listening to his every word. Rook doesn’t just find it hot, he finds it… exhilarating, admirable even? 

  
  


~

  
  


“This thing between you and Joseph, how do you see it ending?” Jess asks Rook once, over a beer and strategizing. Just like that, their meeting goes from being about hunting down The Cook’s associates to Rook’s love life. 

Rook thinks about how Joseph looks with his hair down; Joseph’s long legs wrapped around his waist; Joseph rolling his eyes at Rook’s silly jokes; Joseph promising Rook to keep him safe. 

He remembers Joseph stopping John from drowning him. Joseph leading him out of the Bliss. Joseph forbidding Jacob from killing him.

He pictures how he will kiss Joseph the next time they see each other and what Joseph will feel like in his arms.

How does Rook see it end? 

Truth is, he doesn’t.

  
  


~

  
  


For all the weeks trying to _not_ just come out and finally tell Joseph he loves him, Rook finds it almost easy to actually do it. 

It’s been around two months since Joseph first told Rook he loves him, and about as long of Rook’s internal struggle. Two months in Hope County under the Seeds’ rule is a lifetime. It is too long to feel the way Rook does and not say it.

It is long overdue. 

There are a few ways Rook has considered how to tell Joseph. 

  * After one of their meetings so that Joseph knows Rook isn’t just saying it to get laid. But he gets laid anyway so what is the point;



  * Taking Joseph up to Joseph’s World and kissing him at the top of the statue. Getting rid of the peggies guarding it would be a proper nightmare though;



  * Interrupting one of Joseph’s busy sermons to drag him away in front of his shocked followers. This one is the most outrageous one, as Rook doubts he can try to kidnap Joseph without eating a bullet.



  
  


Instead, Rook simply asks Joseph to meet him in one of the houses they use at the border between Faith and John’s regions. 

He leaves Boomer with Pastor Jerome and instructs Hurk to go back to his dad for a couple of days. The rest of his companions are not hard to get rid of, being as independent as they are. 

The drive is short, dragged out only in Rook’s head due to all the questions in his head. How does he start? Is a speech appropriate? He hates speeches. 

It is only after Rook has abandoned the truck, walked the rest of the distance to the house, entered and is finally standing in the living room with Joseph, that it finally sinks in. He’s doing this. No way back. 

Joseph’s kisses are gentle, unhurried. His hands rest on Rook’s sides, his body radiating warmth where it’s pressed lightly against Rook’s. 

Rook’s heart is in his throat and he’s really confused still as to how Joseph can always be so warm while half naked. 

Their lips have just separated, Joseph pulling Rook in to rest their foreheads together when Rook just… says it.

“I love you.” 

It’s almost as simple as it’s been all the times Joseph has said it. It’s easy. Rook is surprised, relieved, nervous, excited, grateful. He pulls back to look Joseph in the eyes. 

“I love you,” he repeats, intending it to be firmer only to find his voice wavering a little. He hasn’t felt this vulnerable for a long time and this is keeping in mind people shoot at him on a daily basis. 

Joseph’s expression is one of calm and content. He has made it known to Rook numerous times that he knows Rook loves him back. But when he speaks up, he sighs first. 

“I am relieved that you have finally come to terms with it, my love,” he says to Rook, hands sliding to Rook’s back. It is soothing, and yet Rook shivers. 

Rook _hasn’t_ fully come to terms with it. 

Has he? 

“I love you,” he tells Joseph a third time, finding himself compelled to voice it. Or maybe just to feel the words on his tongue. 

Joseph smiles at him gently. He has always been so patient. Rook pulls him close and kisses him, finding relief in Joseph’s soft lips. 

  
Maybe this doesn’t have to be so hard. So Rook is in love with Joseph and will probably _make love_ to him in the next few minutes. It’s not the end of the world.


End file.
